1862 June 11 near Richmond, Va.

                         Camp near Richmond, Wednesday Morning
                                        June 11th, 1862
I have been waiting with anxious expectations my dear wife,
for the letter you said you would write me last Thursday mor
-ning, but it has not come to hand.  Looking with fond desire
for its arrival by every mail I have not written to you
before this week.  But I have thought of you con-
tinually, dearest, and with tenderest Love.--
             Let me know, my dear, how much money you
have on hand.  I have drawn none of my pay since
the last of February.  In the meantime I have been
forced to purchase a horse and I want to make
such arrangements after paying for him, as to let
you have as much as you need.
                     Simon was so unfortunate on the
retreat as to lose his saddlebags that contained
his clothes.  I wish you to have made for him
and sent to Richmond, to the care of W D Gibson,
the following articles, viz: a jacket, pants, waistcoat,
two shirts, one pr. drawers & one pr. socks, in the trunk I sent home there
was a jacket which you can send Simon instead of
making one for him.  Send an order to Shed to make
a pair of shoes, No. 9, at once for Simon, & put them

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in the bundle or box with the clothes-----------------------
Every thing has been so quiet here, my darling, that
I wish now I had asked you to come to Richmond
The effort to tell you how ardently I wish to see
you would be countless.  No language could give
you even a faint idea of the intense longing, that
fills my soul, for a sight of your dear face.---
       I haven't been to Richmond since we were encap
ed here.  But should you come then 'twould be
the city of my heart, and you would be the magnet
that would attract me.
                 Everything has been quiet along
the lines for the last few days. Indeed the
weather has been so bad, and the roads are
in such an awful condition that it wd
have been extremely difficult: if not
impossible, to carry on military operations
on any extended scale.
                      I fear, darling, as I have not
heard from you for a week, that you are
sick. Write and let me know. I send this
hurriedly written note, to greet you warmly, to kiss
you over and over again and to say to my darling
how dear she is to my heart , and to assure her that I
pray constantly for her.
                   Farewell my own true wife---------
                        your husband,  John T. Thornton

John T. Thornton, lawyer, delegate to the Virginia Secession Convention, and Lieut. Colonel in the 3rd Virginia Cavalry.


MSS 4021